European MILESTONEs get 2.1 update as DROID users turn to nihilism

Congratulations, Verizon. You’ve been beaten by the bloody Europeans, those chain-smoking hipsters with complicated shoes and shocking inability to pronounce Barack Obama’s name. They’re now enjoying the goodness that is Android 2.1 while everyone Stateside is stuck in the suck with 2.0.1 and its lack of live wallpapers, Google Earth and nine homescreens. In all seriousness though, what is going on with the DROID missing out on all of the fun? We have a hard time imagining it’s easier to push out an OTA update through multiple European carriers in multiple European countries than it is for for a single American carrier to push out an update that was almost as good as done until it was delayed.

the offishul department of Android updates in the goobermint has to approve it?

virtual

We didn’t turn to nihilism, we turned to 2.1 ROMs bases on ESE53.

virtual

*based

Christopher Martin

Typical Verizon… great service but they Are ALWAYS way behind Everyone else!

consumerism

i wouldn’t even say “great service”. seriously. they don’t even have 3G yet (forget their ads, 3G=simultaneous data and voice; which they don’t do).

verizon has a habit of destroying the firmware of every phone they touch, and requiring that they touch every phone on their network basically means you can’t have a working verizon phone.

argue all you want that your one fav. verizon handset is great (not you personally, but the informal ‘you’) but the fact is that most verizon subscribers can’t even do bluetooth file sharing, regular mp3’s for ringtones, etc.

this, this list of verizon crap, is the primary reason i never even considered the droid. i lust after it in theory, but “the network” is so vile a monstrosity that, to me, it’s like lusting after a beautiful woman who lives inside a septic tank. wonderful if you could get her out of there, real crappy if you can’t.

ChocoTaco

3G is an evolution of a data network. It’s not voice. GSM is TDMA-based. It’s legacy garbage. It’s inferior to CDMA in almost every way. The only real advantage was better handset battery life, and that was just a side effect of its low processing power and TDMA itself.

AT&T had to upgrade their whole network – to W-CDMA. Notice the ‘CDMA’ in ‘W-CDMA’. Because Verizon already had a good voice network in place, they didn’t have a need to waste money to change what was never broken. Verizon didn’t need to convert to CDMA. It already WAS CDMA.

There’s a reason why no one uses GSM anymore and CDMA is thriving worldwide. Either you’re very ignorant, pathetically fanboyish or just plain stupid. Take your pick.

Femi

I don’t know what PLANET you live on but GSM is BY FAR the world’s most popular network. Over 1billion GSM users compared to CDMA’s 270million. CDMA is primarily used in America and a few parts of asia (hell it’s made by Qualcomm). Try this advantage too ; being able to use your quad band GSM phone in ANY part of the world !!! You must work for Qualcomm or Verizon for you to make such a ridiculously biased comment.

OtherMike

@ChocoTaco

where do you get your information? Verizon.com or your Verizon boss? you are far from correct.

ChocoTaco

Wow, people. GSM’s networks are being UPGRADED worldwide to W-CDMA. W-CDMA is a form of CDMA. GSM is legacy TDMA. Therefore, TDMA-based GSM is fading away while CDMA – which INCLUDES W-CDMA – is dominating the marketplace. Nowhere did I say CDMA2000, IS95 or anything like that. Great to see you guys read. Wow.

Google1

I think they need to get all android phones on the same level and have the updates come straight from Google thru the app store for all phones at the same time. I dont mean to sound appleish, I am an android fan thru and thru, But google needs to take charge of their o.s.(the best o.s.) and protect it.

armsctrl

Ridiculous. Why aren’t these telecoms more transparent about the updates?

Dunno

BLAH BLAH BLAH! I AM SO…nah.. don’t care. have 2.1 rom. just root it.

Jackie_Treehorn

They didn’t beat me to it. I’ve had 2.1 on my Droid for months now….

http://benpike.net Ben Pike

I didn’t turn to nihilism – I turned to CyanogenMod… ;-)

StevenGlansburg

No smart-ass comment from me.. just a big grin

http://www.bgr.com/ Michael Bettiol

Speechless. History has been made. :)

FrankieFlo

WTF…this is why I already have 300 bucks set aside for my EVO with sprint when it comes out…hopefully the rumors to it being a mid may launch are true…verizon is too expensive monthly anyways

MicroNix

You know why Sprint commercials have a pin drop? Because you can hear the pin drop when your call drops. Next to AT&T, I’ve never talked with so many people who have dropped calls than those with Sprint (and this is from a land line). While I am floored by the EVO which definitely puts HTC at the top of the heap, Sprint is too unreliable.

I’ll wait for the Droid 2.1 update while still enjoying drop-free calls which btw, is a main function of a phone!

grrr

I’m sure Verizon is to blame for the 2.1 delay with the Droid.

Root!

Dunno

isn’t that a first steven?

Droid Rocks

My Ultimate Droid 8.1.1 from Blackdroid works great. Of course it’s based on 2.1 and all the goodness that it has to offer. Custom ROMs is all I’ll be going with from here on out!

I’ve read the rumor that the latest delay was because of an incompatability with 2.1 and Skype. Personally I could care less for Skype and if thats the reason for the delay big red should be ashamed of itself. Give the Droid owners the update and let people with Skype get a fix from market when available.

The most plausible rumor i’ve read is that the delay is being caused because they’re trying to change the bootloader to the digitally signed one that’s in the milestone (which will make rooting a lot harder). This caused phones to brick.

And honestly, Livewallpapers are nice, but they are resource hogs.

Ben

No Canadian love either?

MattP

When will this phone finally be coming to the US? Didn’t a version pass the FCC in January with TMO bands?

DavidB

Considering Verizon is what, 4 to 5 months late with OS 5.0 for the BlackBerry Tour, kinda silly you acting surprised they are late with an Android update. Duh.

Sure

Any Droid owner who cares about 2.1 is already rooted, so it really doesn’t matter.

Patrick Moto Droid

They (whoever they are) need to get their stuff together. I believe it is moto not vzw. But we will find out after the update is released. I hope it isn’t the digitally signed version. If it is post notes asap people.

Matt Thompson

….and all the while, us G1/mt3G users are still stuck with Android 1.6…

Jordan

while the Hero/Eris’s have 1.5 (seriously about to root)

Greg

There is no need to wait for the official 2.1 update. Do a little reading and understanding on how to root and install a custom ROM and you will never use an official ROM again.

Silverback

The DROID is getting a staggered 2.1 update over the next 7 days, 1,000 the first 24 hours, then 200,000/day after that…